Card controlled printing telegraph transmitter



June 23, 1964 R. E. ARKO 3,138,664

CARD CONTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER Filed May 28, 1962 6 Sheets-Sheet l ROBERT E. ARKO BY M41,

ATTORNEY R. E. ARKO June 23, 1964 CARD CONTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 28, 1962 0 K R z. A v 0 E TE N N R Wm m WE M B 2 m M m5 m9 9N o 111111111 I: m: 8. L Na mew SN m V i Q Q m I 3m @3 P 3 m8 Q. 08 m8 1, u 8N wow av mom m: we QM mom ON mom \ma EN mm. EN 02 mNN N F EE 5m 3m m .oE

R. E. ARKO 3,138,664

CARD CONTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER June 23, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 28, 1962 INVENTOR ROBERT E. ARKQ ATTORNEY R. E. ARKO June 23, 1964 CARD CONTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 28, 1962 INVENTOR ROBERT E. ARKO ATTORNEY R E. ARKO June 23, 1964 CARD CONTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER 6 Sheets-Sheet Filed May 28, 1962 INVENTOR ROBERT E. ARKO ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,138,664 CARD CDNTROLLED PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER Robert E. Arno, Mount Prospect, lilL, assignor to Teletype Corporation, Slrolnie, IllL, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 28, 1962, Ser. No. 197,954 11 Claims. (Cl. 178-4175) This invention relates to card controlled printing telegraph transmitters and more particularly to a printing telegraph transmitter incorporating in it mechanism for expeditiously handling a succession of cards having control permutation code perforations in them representative of messages of various lengths.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing telegraph transmitter having therein apparatus for automatically and expeditiously feeding a succession of cards, having code perforations in them, step-by-step past card reading instrumentalities to read a message from each card, wherein the cards contain messages of various lengths.

Another object of the invention is to provide a card controlled printing telegraph transmitter with simple mechanism for properly locating a card, having prepunched feed holes in it, with respect to a card feeding sprocket wheel in the transmitter.

A further object of the invention is to provide a card controlled printing teiegraph transmitter With mechanism for feeding a card step-by-step through the transmitter while reading and transmitting a message represented by code combinations of perforations in the card and then, at the end of a message, feeding the card in a continuous motion out of the transmitter.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a card controlled printing telegraph transmitter with card handling mechanism for feeding cards transversely of its length to association with a card reading mechanism and then feeding the cards lengthwise to control the transmitter positioning a second card to be handled by the transmitter before the first card has been fed completely out of association with the transmitter.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, as applied to a card controlled telegraph transmitter using cards with a five-unit start-stop permutation code perforated adjacent to one edge of the card, wherein the card is fed step-by-step past a row of sensing pins that, on each step forward of the card, will be released to determine the presence or absence of perforations in various levels of perforations in the card and that will sequentially control a signal generating contact in accordance with the location of perforations in the card, there is provided card handling mechanism which feeds cards one at a time transversely of their length to position on card sup porting deck plate and then feeds the cards lengthwise past the sensing pins. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, cards which may have messages perforated in them that are of different lengths, are fed, one at a time, from a supply of cards onto a supporting plate and while one of the cards is being fed step-hy-step past the card reading portion of the apparatus another card may be fed to the card supporting plate in partially superposed relation to the card being read and will have one end of it held in a position above the deck plate in position to be moved to association with the mechanism for feeding it step-by-step through the reading portion of the apparatus. Mechanism is provided for detecting the end of a message on each card read in the reading portion of the apparatus and thereupon ejecting the card that has been read and accurately registering the succeeding card with the mechanism for feeding the card step-by-step past the reading portion of the apparatus.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a general plan view of an apparatus embodying the preferred form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are enlarged front elevational views with parts broken away, to show some of the apparatus in back of them, taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 1 and when placed with FIG. 3 to the right of FIG. 4 show the front of the apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of FIG. 4 in the direction of the arrows showing part of the mechanism for handling the cards after they have been read;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line '77 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows looking toward the rear of the apparatus;

FIG. 7A is a fragmentary sectional view also taken substantially along the line 77 of FIG. 1 but showing some of the mechanism for detecting an end-of-message code which is located in front of the mechanism shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line 88 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows looking toward the front of the apparatus;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary detail view of a clutch mechanism used in driving some of the card handling portions of the apparatus, and

FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing the control circuit for the apparatus.

In the description which follows the details of construction of the reader-transmitter mechanism will first be described and the card handling mechanism will then be described.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate the same parts throughout the several views, particular reference, at this time, being had to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the various units of the apparatus are mounted between a pair of side plates 11 and 12 which are held in spaced relation one to another by spacer bars 13 and 14 (FIG. 7). These spacer bars 13 and 14 are connected to the side plates 11 and 12 and serve to hold them in properly spaced relation. In addition to being held in spaced relation by the spacer bars 13 and 14 the side plates are also held in spaced relation by a main bail pivot rod 16. An irregularly shaped center plate 17 is positioned between the side plates 11 and 12 and is supported in that position by the main bail pivot rod 16 (FIG. 7) and three posts 18, 19 and 2t) which are fixed to the side plate 11.

The side plates 11 and 12 and the center plate 17 support the various parts of the mechanism. The side plates 11 and 12 have suitably journalied in them a drive shaft 21 having fixed to it a gear 22 (FIG. 8) that is continuously driven in a manner to be described hereinafter. The gear 22 has fixed to it a clutch drum 23 forming a part of a clutch mechanism such as that disclosed in detail in the patent to W. J. Zenner No. 2,678,118 issued May 11, 1954, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. This clutch includes a stop lug 24, which, when its movement is blocked by a clutch trip lever 25, will effect the disengagement of the clutch drum 23 from a clutch disc 26. This particular type of clutch is so arranged that the momentum of the clutch disc 26, and the parts driven by it, will be sufiicient to cause a slight rotary displacement between the clutch disc 26 and clutch drum 23 when the clutch trip lever 25 engages the stop lug 24. This displacement between the disc 26 and the drum 23 will be sufficient to permit a clutch latch lever 27 to fall behind a projection on the clutch disc 26 thereby to insure that there will be no drag on the clutch members when they are disengaged.

The clutch disc 26 is fixed to a cam sleeve (FIG. 7) on which there are formed or assembled a plurality of cams 36 and an eccentric 37 for driving a drive arm 33. The drive arm 38 has a slot 39 formed in it, into which there extends a main bail eccentric drive pin 40. As shown in FIG. 7, the pin 41), which may be rotated to adjust its operative relation to the slot 39, is at the lower end of the slot 39 and the drive arm 38 is in its uppermost position. The drive pin 40 is fixed to an arm 41 of a main driving bail 42 which is pivctally mounted on the main bail pivot rod 16. The main bail 42 has a second arm 43 which is also pivotally mounted on the main bail pivot rod 16 and the arm ll and the arm 43 are connected together by a pair of cross rods 44 and 45 thus to form the rigid bail structure 42.

The main driving bail 42 is urged to rock in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7), clockwise (FIG. 8), about the main bail pivot rod 16 by a contractile spring 46 FIG. 7) tending to move the lever 52 to a position where the main bail eccentric drive pin 40 would be at the upper end of the slot 39. However, the main driving bail 42 is prevented from rocking counterclockwise (FIG. 7) by a main bail latch 47. The main bail latch 47 is pivotally mounted on the post 18 and is urged to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7) by contractile spring 48. As shown in FIG. 7, the left end of the main bail latch -37 has a projection 49 that extends above a horizontally disposed portion 56 of an armature bail extension 51. The armature bail extension 51 is formed integrally with an armature bail 52 that is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 53 and is urged to rock in a clockwise direction (FIG. 7) by a spring 54 that is fixed to a downwardly projecting portion 55 of it and to a pin 56. The armature bail 52 supports an armature 57 which is operatively associated with an electromagnet 58. The electromagnet 58 is mounted on a suitable bracket 59 that also supports the pivot pin 53 and is in turn mounted on the side plate 12.

Energization of the electromagnet 58 will attract its armature and consequently will cause the armature bail 52 to rock in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7), thus to carry the horizontally disposed portion 50 of the armature bail extension 51 upwardly into engagement with the projection 49 on the main bail latch 4-7. When this occurs the main bail latch 47 will be rocked in a clockwise direction (FIG. 7) to disengage a latching shoulder 7t) on the main bail latch 47 from the right end of the arm 43 of the main driving bail 42 thus to permit the spring 4-6 to rock the main driving bail 42 in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7) until the drive pin 46 on it reaches the upper end of the slot 39 in the drive arm 38.

When the main driving bail 4-2 rocks counterclockwise (FIG. 7) it will move a pin 60 (FIG. 8), which extends from the cross rod (FIG. 7), a short distance to the left (FIG. 8). The pin 60 extends into a slot 61 in a clutch trip bail 62 which is pivoted on a pin 63 suitably fixed to the side plate 12. The clutch trip lever 25 is also pivoted on the pin 63 and is urged to follow the clutch trip bail d2 by a contractile spring 64 attached to the bail 62 and lever Thus, when the electromagnet 53 is energized it will release the main driving bail which will in turn initiate a cycle of operation of the cam sleeve As the main driving bail ro ks in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7) under the influence of its spring 46, the

cross rod 45 forming a part of the main driving bail 42 will also move upwardly to release a series of sensing fingers 71 (FIG. 7) for actuation by their respective springs 77 (FiG. 7). There is a spring 77 individual to each one of the sensing fingers 71, but only one of them has been shown in FIG. 7 to simplify the disclosure slightly. There are five of the sensing fingers 71 for sensing five aligned areas of a record card 72. The springs 77 urge the sensing fingers 71 upwardly and to the right (FIG. 7) to cause the upper ends of the sensing pins to slide upwardly to the right while bearing against the right-hand edge (FIG. 7) of slots 78 individual to the sensing pins '71 and formed in a hinged plate 79 that is suitably hinged on a deck plate 73. As best seen in FIG. 7, the lower ends of the sensing fingers 71 are U-shaped to provide surfaces on each of them which bear against the post thus to provide a slidable and oscillatable support for the sensing fingers 71 to permit the sensing fingers to move upwardly under the action of their respective springs 77 to either engage an imperforate surface on a card or to go through perforations in the card 72 on the hinged plate 79. The slots 73 in the hinged plate 79 in combination with the slidable and oscillatable support provided by the post 2G" cooperating with the surface 83 (FIG. 7) of the sensing fingers 71, will permit the sensing fingers to oscillate a slight amount during their retraction to the position shown in FIG. 7 and the concurrent feeding of the tape thus permitting operation of the card reader at a higher rate of speed than would otherwise be possible.

Each of the sensing fingers 71 has associated with it a transfer lever 87 (FIG. 7) and all of the transfer levers 8'7 have camming projections 39 adjacent to their right ends and are slidably mounted on the post 18 about which they may also be oscillated. Each of the transfer levers 37 has a book 91 formed on it to which there is attached a contractile spring 92 that has its other end suitably attached to a part of the framework of the apparatus. Thus, all of the transfer levers 37 are normally urged downwardly and to the left, as viewed in FIG. 7, to carry their camming projection 89 into engagement with cams individual to them, such as the cam 36, mounted on the cam sleeve 35.

Each of the transfer levers 87 has a locking projection 93 formed on it which projects toward the cam shaft or drive shaft 21 for cooperation with a laterally extending locking projection formed on a transfer lever locking bail 95. This locking bail 95 is urged to move to the left (FIG. 7) by a contractile spring 96 which has one end attached to the locking bail 95 and the other end attached to a portion of the framework of the apparatus. The transfer lever locking bail 95 is slidablc on the posts 18 and 29, suitable slots 166 and 97 being formed in the locking bail to engage the posts 18 and 29. Each of the transfer levers 87 has a U-shaped portion at its left end as viewed in FIG. 7 on which there are inwardly extending fingers 98 and 99 for cooperation with the bent sides 100 and 161 of a contact actuating rocker member 102. The rocker member 102 is mounted for oscillation about a post 103 extending inwardly from the side plate 11. The rocker member 102 upon being oscillated due to the engagement of the laterally bent sides or 101 of it by the fingers 8 or 99, will actuate a contact lever 10-? to actuate a contact assembly of any suitable type, such for example, as that disclosed in the Patent No. 2,605,366, issued to W. I. Zenner on July 29, 1952, to effect the transmission of current or no-eurrent pulses over a transmission line connected to the contacts in the contact assembly thus to impress signals on a telegraph line.

The earns 36 are arranged on the cam sleeve 35 so that they will sequcntilly move their associated transfer levers S7 to the right (FIG. 7), in a sequence that is timed to actuate the rocker member 1il2 to generate fiveunit, start-stop permutation code signals. Since, in the transmission of this permutation code, the normal condition of the line is marking, the start pulse is a spacing or no-current pulse. There are eight cams 36 on the cam sleeve 35. Two of these cams, that is the START and STOP, cams have no sensing fingers, such as sensing fingers 71 to 75, associated with them and their transfer levers 87 are always maintained in position to engage the fingers 98 and 19 on them, with the sides and 1111, respectively, of the rocker member 102. Since, as pointed out hereinbefore, the permutation code usually used is a five-unit start-stop code, the START cam 36 actuates its transfer lever 87 first, to rock the rocker member 1&2 in a clockwise direction (FIG. 7) to a spacing position. Next the cam 36 of the first code element moves its transfer lever 87 to the right (FIG. 7).

If the first element or level of the code being read by the sensing fingers 71 is marking due to the fact that a perforation is found in the card 72 in the area associated with the first of the sensing fingers 71 to be released for sensing action, the transfer lever 37 associated with that sensing finger 71 will be rocked in a clockwise direction (FIG. 7) to align the finger )9 on it with the side 1411 of the rocker member 1112. With the first lever 87 in this position, the high portion of the cam 36 will move the transfer lever 37 to the right to rock the rocker member 1112 to a marking position. if the card 73 is imperforate in the area associated with the sensing finger 71, indicating that a spacing or no-current pulse constitutes the first element of the code, the rocker member 1112 will remain in the position to which it was rocked by the START cam. The cams for the second, third, fourth and fifth code elements actuate their associated transfer levers 87 in sequence and consequently will rock the rocker member 1112 to either its marking or spacing position depending upon the coding of perforations in the card 72. After the five transfer levers 37 associated with the code controlling sensing fingers 71 have sequentially controlled the rocker member 1112, the cam 36 associated with the stop transfer lever 87 moves its transfer lever 87 to the right to rock the rocker mem ber 1112 to the marking position. Thus, as the cam sleeve 35 goes through its cycle of rotation, it will cause the rocker member 1112 to be rocked, first to the spacing position to initiate a start-stop cycle and then to transmit spacing or marking signals in sequence and finally it will transmit a marking signal under control of the STOP transfer lever 67 which will invariably rock the rocker member 1112 to a marking condition after the transmission of the five-unit code.

The card 72 is fed through the apparatus, in timed relation to the operation of the sensing fingers 71 by a feed sprocket wheel fixed on a hub portion 116 on which there is also fixed a ratchet wheel 117. The ratchet wheel 117 is associated with a feed pawl 116 and is retained in any position to which the feed pawl 118 advances it by a ratchet detent pin 119. As may be seen most clearly in FIG. 7, the feed pawl 118 is pivoted on an eccentric drive pin 121 adjustably mounted on the arm 43 of main driving bail 42 and is urged to rock in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 8) by a contractile spring 121 attached to a downwardly extending portion of it and to an extension 122 extending downwardly from the arm 43 of the main driving bail 42. The detent pin 119 is mounted on the free end of a detent bail 123 pivotally mounted on a post 124 that is in turn mounted on the center plate 17 and extends toward the side plate 11. The detent bail 123 is urged to rock in a clockwise direction (FIG. 7), counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 8, by a contractile spring 125 (FIG. 7). Thus, the feed pawl 118 and the detent pin 119 are urged by their respective springs into engagement with the ratchet wheel 117 but may be disengaged therefrom to permit free wheeling of the sprocket wheel 115 when a card is being fed out of association with the sensing fingers ti 71 and this may be effected by rocking a control bail 126 counterclockwise (FIG. 8).

The control bail 126, as seen most clearly in FIG. 8, is oscillatable about a pivot stud 133 that is mounted on the center plate 17. A downwardly extending arm of the control bail 126 is attached to a link 1234 that is in turn pivotally connected to a plunger 135 of a solenoid 136. The plunger 135 is spring urged to the left (FIG. 8) and upon energization of the solenoid 136 will be moved to the right to rock the control bail 126 counterclockwise (FIG. 8) about the pivot stud 133. When this control bail 126 is rocked in the counterclockwise direction (FIG. 8) an arm 137 of it will engage the detent pin 119 and rock the detent bail 123 clockwise about the post 124 to disengage the detent pin 119 from the teeth of the ratchet wheel 117. As motion continues to be imparted to the control bail 126 a lateral extension 138 of the arm 137 will engage a surface 13? of the feed pawl 118 to rock the feed pawl 118 clockwise (FIG. 8) about the drive pin against the action of the spring 121 to move the upper end of the feed pawl out of operatii e association with the ratchet wheel 117. This will put the ratchet wheel 117 and sprocket feed wheel 115 to which it is attached into a free Wheeling condition so that when movement is imparted to the card 72 which is in engagement with the sprocket feed wheel 115 the card may readily be moved lengthwise and will rotate the sprocket feed wheel when it is so moved. When the solenoid 136 is de-energized the detent pin 11? will center the ratchet wheel 117 and consequently the feed sprocket wheel 115 in position to be engaged by a card 72 placed in engagement with the sprocket wheel 115.

Power for driving the entire apparatus may be derived from any suitable source (not shown) to impart rotation to a gear 140 (FIG. 8) which is fixed to a main drive shaft 141 and which meshes with the gear 22. The shaft 14-1 also has fixed to it three pulleys 142, 14-3, and 144-. The pulley 142 has teeth on it to drive a toothed belt whereas the pulleys 143 and 144 drive belts 146 (FIG. 8) and 147 (FIG. 3) that are circular in cross section. The belt 145 drives a pulley 148 that is fixed to a shaft 1%. Mounted on the shaft 14-9 is a gear 150 that meshes with a gear 169 freely rotatable on a shaft 161 journalled in the plates 11 and 17. The gear 16%) has a clutch driving member 162 fixed to it for rotation with it and this clutch driving member has operatively associated with it a clutch pawl 163 (FIG. 9) that is pivoted on a pin 164 fixed to a driven disc 165 that is attached to or formed integrally with a cam sleeve 166. The clutch pawl 165 is normally urged to rock in a clockwise direction (FIG. 9) about the pivot pin 164 by a contractile spring 167 which is stretched between an extension 168 of the pawl 163 and a pin 169 mounted on the disc 165. The clutch drive member 162 is continuously driven clockwise (FIG. 9) and will be effective to drive the cam sleeve 166 when the pawl 163 is permitted to rock from the position shown in FIG. 9 to a position where it engages the teeth on clutch drive member 162. The clutch, now being described, is a single revolution clutch which is normally disengaged, to hold the cam sleeve 166 against rotation, by a blocking lever 170 that extends into the path of a laterally extending projection 171 on the pawl 163. This clutch may be tripped by energizing an electromagnet 172, (FIG. 7) the armature 173 of which is fixed to the blocking lever 170 and upon energization of the electromagnet 172, will rock the lever 170 about a pivot shaft 174 to initiate a cycle of rotation of the cam sleeve 166.

The cam sleeve 166 has three cams 175, 176 and 177 on it for cooperation with cam levers 178, 179, and 181. The cam levers 178 and 179 are both actuated by the cam 175, and the cam levers 180 and 131 are actuated by the cams 176 and 177, respectively. The cam lever 180 is a blocking cam and is pivotally mounted on the pivot shaft 174. This cam lever 180 has a horizontal extension 182 formed on it which rides on the underside of a lever arm 183. The lever arm 183 is fixed to the hinged plate 79 and when the cam shaft 161 is in the position shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the arm 183 will be cammed to the position shown by the extension 182 on the cam lever 180 to rock the hinged plate 79 into alignment with the deck plate 73. When the cam sleeve 166 is rotated to a position where the cam lever 180 is rocked clockwise about the shaft 174, to a position where it is disengaged from the lever arm 183, the cam 177 will present its high portion to the camming surface of the camming lever 181 to rock the camming lever 181 clockwise about a pivot shaft 134 that is suitably mounted in the framework of the apparatus and the left end of the cam lever 181 will rock the hinged plate 79 about its pintle 185 thereby to direct the leading edge of a card 72 upwardly into engagement with a stop member 186 (FIGS. 3 and 8) thereby to hold the leading end of the card 72 out of engagement with the feed sprocket wheel 115 and prevent the teeth on the feed sprocket wheel 115 from engaging the holes in the card. When the cam sleeve 166 rotates a short distance out of the position shown in FIG. 7 the cam 175 will permit the cam lever 178 to rock in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7) about the pivot shaft 184 due to the fact that the lower portion of the cam 175 will be presented to the cam engaging end of the cam lever 178 which is urged to rock in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 7), clockwise direction (FIG. 8) by a blocking bail 187 which is mounted on a pivot shaft 188 and urged to rotate counterclockwise (FIG. 8) by a spring 159. The pivot shaft 188 is mounted on a bracket 190 (FIG. 3) that is suitably supported on the deck plate 73.

The blocking bail 187 has an arm 200 (FIG. 8) which is positioned to be engaged by the upper end of the eamming lever 178 and has a second arm 201 which is bent over at its lower end to provide a card supporting lip 202, and the spring 189 holds the arm 200 against the end of the cam lever 178. The left end (FIG. 3) of the spring 189 is attached to a pivot stud 203 on which there is pivoted a bail 204 which carries a clamping roller 205 at its free end. The clamping roller 205 is freely rotatable on a stud shaft 206 mounted on an arm 207 of the bail 204. The bail 204 is urged to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (FIG. 3) clockwise (FIG. 8) about the pivot stud 203 by a contractile spring 208 and a downwardly extending arm 209 of the bail 204 bears against a camming surface on the control bail 126. As

described hereinbefore this control bail is normally held in the position shown in FIG. 8 and will be rocked about its pivot stud 133 in a counterclockwise direction upon energization of the solenoid 136. When this occurs the bail 204 will be permitted to rock clockwise (FIG. 8)

under the influence of its spring 208 to carry the clamping roller 205 down toward a feed roller 210 mounted on a shaft 211 which is continuously driven and which extends to a very slight extent above the surface of the deck plate 73. Thus, upon energization of the solenoid 135, among other things, the clamping roller 205 will be moved by the spring 200 toward a continuously driven roller 210 thereby to feed a card which may be positioned in the bite of these two rollers toward the right (FIG. 8), the left (FIG. 3). The roller 210 is continuously driven by its shaft 211 on which there is mounted a pulley 212 driven by the belt 14-7.

Cards from a suitable supply (not shown) may be fed into the bite of two sets of rollers 213, 214, 215 and 216. The rollers 215 and 215 (FIG. 3) ar mounted on a shaft 217 which is journalled in brackets 218 and 219 supported by the deck plate 73. The shaft 217 has a pulley 220 fixed to it which is driven by the belt 1-45, suitable guide pulleys and 222 (FIG. 8) serving to direct the belt 146 from the pulley 1- .3 to the pulley 220.

8 A card 72 which is to be fed into the apparatus is entered into the bite of the pulleys 213, 214, 215 and 2 16 upon the deenergization of a feed solenoid 223 shown on FIG. 10. This feed solenoid forms part of any suitable card feed device which will feed one card at the time transversely of its length into the bite of the pulleys 213-216, inclusive. The pulleys 213 and 214 are mounted in bails 224 and 225 that are spring urged toward the pulleys 215 and 216 by springs 226 and 227 (FIG. 3), the bails 224 and 225 being pivotally mounted on brackets 228 and 229. In being fed by the pulleys 213 to 216, inclusive, a card will rock a contact actuating lever 230 about its pivot 231 to operate a microswitch 232. The microswitch, the support for the pivot 231 and the brackets 228 and 229 are suspended from a cross bar 233 mounted on the upper ends of the bracket 219 and a bracket 234.

A card. 72 which has been fed by the rollers 213-216, inclusive, toward the deck plate 73 will come to rest with its right end (FIG. 3) on the deck plate 73 and its left end on the lip of the arm 201 of bail 187 and will come to rest with its front edge against a stop member 235 (FIG. 6) in position to be pushed rearwardly against a gauge member 230 which will guide the card in its longitudinal movement after the card has been moved rearwardly to engage the gauge member 236.

An eccentric 242 (FIG. 3) driven with the cam sleeve 16% has a drive pin 24-3 on it for actuating a pair of pitman bars and 24-5. The pilman bar 244 is pivotally connected to a pusher slide 246 by means of a pin The pusher slide 246 is slidably mounted on the plate 11 by means of the pin 247 and a pin 24-8 that extend into a slot 249 in the plate 11. The pusher plate 246 has fixed to it a vertically extending card pusher member 250 which will engage the right end (FIG. 3) of a card 72 and push it to the left upon rotation of the eccentric 242.

Mounted on the front plate 11 is a bell crank lever 251, the bifurcated left end of which receives the horizontally extending portion of a locating bail 252. The bail 252 is urged to rotate in a clockwise direction (FIG. 6) about a pivot pin 253 by a contractile spring 254 to move a pair of upwardly extending fingers 255 to the right (FIG. 6). The fingers 255 extend through slots 256 in the deck plate 73. An adjustable stop screw 257 limits the clockwise rocking motion of the bail 252 by engaging the bent down end of the bracket 258 on the plate 11. This bail 252 will push any card 72 which has been dropped on the deck 73, over against the gauge member 256 properly locating the card for lengthwise feeding of it.

The pitman 245 (FIG. 4) is pivotally connected to a drive link 270 which in turn has pivotally connected to it a pair of hell crank levers 271. The bell crank levers 271 are connected to pivot shafts 272. The pivot shafts 272 are mounted on studs 273 that extend upwardly from a supporting plate 274 which is suitably mounted in the apparatus. The bell crank levers 271 are connected to downwardly extending projections 275 of card lifting plates 2'76 and the bell crank levers 271 have formed integrally with them lever arms 277 which are pivotally connected to a lifting plate 276 adjacent to the rear of the apparatus. Thus, the two plates 276 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be lifted upwardly simultaneously when the drive link 270 is moved to the left (FIG. 4). These plates extend through slots 278 in the deck plate 73 to engage and lift a card 72 that has been advanced to position on top of the plates 275 by the rollers 205 and 210. A framework including two angle members 279 disposed at the forward and rear end of this portion of. the apparatus support card guides 230 and 231. The angle members 279 have brackets 232 fixed to them on which there are pivotally mounted card supporting members These card supporting members normally assume the position shown in FIG. 5 but may be cammed out of this position by a card 72 being lifted upwardly past them whereupon the card supporting members 283 will fall back by gravity to the position shown in FIG. 5

to support a stack of cards. In this manner each card 72 is fed into position under the card which preceded it through the reading portion of the apparatus.

The hinged plate 79 has mounted on it a card guide plate 286 which is mounted in spaced relation to the hinged plate 79 and has its right end (FIGS. 3 and 7) bent upwardly to guide a card into position between this plate 286 and the hinged plate 79 whereby the plate 2% serves as a lid to hold the card 72 on the hinged plate 79. A card detecting lever 287 which is pivoted on a pivot stud 288 has a portion of it normally positioned to extend upwardly through the hinged plate 79 as shown most clearly in FIG. 7. The card detecting lever 287 has a contact actuating member 289 on it which serves the dual purpose of so weighting the lever 237 as to cause it to tend to assume the position shown in FIG. 7 and also serves to actuate a switch 2%. This lever 287 detects the presence of a card lid plate ass and hinged plate '79 when these two plates are moved to the position shown in FIG. 7.

Each card 72 fed through the sensing or reading portion of the apparatus and sensed by the sensing fingers '71 will control the transmission or" a message by selectively and sequentially controlling the actuation of the contact assembly W5. This control of the contact assembly 1&5, as described hereiubefore, is eifected by positioning the transfer levers S7 in either their upper marking position or their lower spacing position under control of the sensing fingers 71.

Since the individual messages on the cards 72 vary in length it is desirable to feed a card out of the reading or sensing portion of the apparatus as soon as it has controlled the transmission of its message. Consequently, each message perforated in the cards ends with an endofmessage code combination. In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein this code combination is the carriage return combination i.e., levels 1, 2, 3 and ii spacing and level 4 marking.

The detection of an end-of-message code by the sensing fingers '71 will cause the transfer levers S7 in the fourth level to move upwardly and will permit the transfer levers 87 for the l, 2, 3 and 5 levels to remain in their lower position as illustrated by the levers 87 in FIG. 7. Each of the transfer levers 87 has a contact actuating lever 306 aligned with it for selective actuation by it. Tie levers 366 are pivoted on a stud shaft 361 7 and are urged to follow the movement of a cam lever 3% by springs 309 individual to them. The springs 3b) are connected to the levers 3% and to a pin 31% which extends between arms 311 of a bail 3.32 which is pivoted on the shaft 3'97 and connected to the cam lever 3% at 313 for movement with lever 3%. A web portion 314 of the bail 31?, is slotted to guide the contact actuating levers 3% which have extensions 315 riding in the slots in the web 314 for engagement with the transfer levers 87.

The cam lever 3% carries a cam roller 316 in engagement with a cam 317 on the cam sleeve 35, a spring 3518 serving to ur e the lever 3% to rock counterclockwise (Fiu. 7A) and to hold the cam roller 316 in operative engagement with the cam 317. The cam lever has a contact actuating extension 319 on it for closing a contact pair 32% at a predetermined time in a cycle of rotation of the sleeve The web portion 314 of the bail 312 normally holds the contact actuating levers 3% in the position shown in FIG. 7A but releases them for clockwise movement by their individual springs 36W when the lever 303 rocks clockwise unless they are blocked by their associated transfer levers 37.

The contact actuating levers 306 for the l, 2, 3 and 5 levels actuate the movable contacts of normally closed contact pairs such as the contact pair 321 and the contact actuating lever 3% for the fourth level, actuates the movable contact of a normally open contact pair 322 when their associated transfer levers are raised by their associated sensing fingers 71. Thus upon receipt of a car- 10 riage return code combination the contact pairs 321-1, 2', 3 and 5 (FIG. 10) will remain closed and contact pair 322-4 will be closed to energize an end-of-message relay 323.

Operation In the operation of the apparatus, having reference to the circuit shown on FIG. 10, the operation of the manually operable switch 291 will interrupt the circuit to a solenoid 292 in the mechanism to initiate the feeding of a card into the bite of the rollers 213, 214, 215 and 216. This mechanism may be of any well known type which will operate in response to the deenergization of a solenoid such as the solenoid 222. The circuit for normally holding the solenoid 292 energized extends from a 24 v. A.C. source 293 to ground at 294 through the switch 221 and a pair of normally closed relay contacts 295A and 296A of a pair of relays 295 and 296. As pointed out, the opening of the manually operable switch 291 will cause a card to be fed into the bite of the rollers 213, 214, 215 and 216 to feed the first card of a stack of cards onto the deck plate 73. When a card is fed by the rollers 213 216, inclusive, it will come to rest in the position shown in FIG. 3 Where its right end will be on the deck plate 73 and its left end will be held in an upward position by the lip 292 of the blocking bail 187. In feeding to position on the lip 2tl2 and plate 73 the card will engage and actuate the contact actuating lever 230 to operate the switch 232. The switch 232 (FIG. 10) is a normally open switch which upon being momentarily closed by the card 72 moving past the lever 236 will supply current from a 24 v. DC. source 297 through the winding of relay 295 to ground at 2%. This will energize the relay 295' and cause it to open its contact 295A. Thus, although the manually operable switch 291 is operated only momentarily to move the card into association with the switch 252, the card will hold the switch 232 closed to hold the circuit to the solenoid 292 open at normally closed contact 295A until the card is fed into the bite of the rollers 213-216, inclusive, to insure that the card is fed by the rollers.

After the first card of a series of cards 72 has been deposited on the deck plate 73, a manually operable switch 299 may be operated to initiate automatic operation of the apparatus. Closure of the switch 299 Will complete a circuit from the source 297 through the pusher clutch magnet 172 (FIG. 7) to ground 298, to move the blocking lever out of the path of the clutch pawl 163 (FIG. 9). This will initiate a cycle of rotation of the cam sleeve 166. As the cam sleeve 166 starts to rotate, the eccentric 2&2 will pull the pusher slide 172 to the left as viewed in FIG. 3 to push the card 72 which is resting on the deck 73 toward the left. At the start of the movement of the pusher slide 246 to the left, the lip 22 of the blocking bail 187 will be snapped out from under the left edge of the card due to the cam lever 178 dropping onto the lower portion of the cam 175. Thus, the card will be deposited on the deck plate 73 preparatory to being moved over into engagement with the stop member 186.

Shortly after the cam sleeve 166 starts to rotate the horizontal extension 132 of the cam lever 180 will release the arm 133 and the cam lever 181 will move the hinged plate 79 to its tilted position. Thus, the card 72 which is being pushed to the left by the card pusher member 259 will be dropped on the deck plate 73 and carried over the hinged plate 74 and under the guide plate 286 until its forward edge engages the stop member 186 where it will be positioned directly above the feed pins on the sprocket feed wheel 115 in position to be fed step-by-step by the sprocket feed wheel 115. As the cam sleeve 166 continues to rotate the cam lever 179 will reach the highest point of its associated cam and will operate a switch 3%. The switch 30%) in being closed will complete a circuit from source 297 through the winding of relay 2% to ground to energize relay 296 and relay 296 in being operated will open its normally closed contacts 296-A to cause a second card to be fed from the supply onto lip 202 and deck plate 73. Relay 296 in operating will lock operated through its locking contact 296-8 and a normally closed contact 295-B of relay 295 until relay 295 is energized by a card 72 closing normally open contacts 232.

In the same cycle of rotation of cam sleeve 166, cams 175 and 176 will cause cam levers 17S and 183 to return the hinged plate 79 to the position shown in the drawings and since a card is now in position between the hinged plate 79 and the guide plate 286, the card detecting lever 287 will effect the actuation of switch 291'). Switch 2% as shown on FIG. 10 is a break-make switch and will move its swinger from its lower contact to its upper contact to complete a circuit from source 297 through switch 290, a normally closed contact 323-A of end-or-rnessage relay 323 and the windings of electromagnet 58 to ground at 298 to energize the electromagnet 5S and initiate a reader cycle. will trip the clutch trip bail 62 to cause the cam sleeve 35 to be rotated (FIG. 7) and the cam sleeve 35 will continue to rotate as long is the electromagnet 58 is held energized. The cam sleeve 35 will cyclically release the sensing pins 71 and actuate the feed pawl 118 to cause the contact assembly 135 to transmit code combination signals under control of the sensing fingers 71, thus, to transmit the message represented by perforations in the card over the telegraph line (not shown).

The electromagnet 58 will remain energized as long as the card detecting lever 287 is held in its operated position to move the swinger of switch 290 to its upper position and as long as the normally closed contact 323-A remains closed.

When the fingers 71 detect a code combination in the card 72 assigned to the carriage return" function, normally open contact 322-4 will be closed and normally closed contacts 321-1, -2, 3, and -5 will be closed to prepare a path for the energization for end-of-message relay 323. When, in the cycle of rotation of the cam sleeve 35; the cam 317 closes contact 32% (FIGS. 7A and 10) the end-of-message relay 323 will be energized in a path through contacts 320, 321-1, -2, -3, 322-4 and 321-5 through the windings of the relay 323 to ground at 398 to energize this relay which will lock up under control of its locking contacts 323-8. When the relay 323 is energized it will open its normally closed contact 323-A to deenergize the electromagnet 58 and will close its normally open contacts 323-1).

The closing of normally open contact 323-D will complete a circuit through source 297 through the windings d of solenoid 136 to ground 298 to energize this solenoid and effect the disengagement of the feed pawl 118 and detent 119 from the ratchet wheel 117 to permit free rotation of the ratchet wheel 117. The energization of the solenoid 136 will also release the bail 264 and permit the spring 208 to rock it about the pivot stud 203 to bring the clamping roller 205 down on top of the card between it and the feed roller 210. This will cause the card to be fed rapidly over onto the lifting plates 276 and out of the reader portion of the apparatus.

As soon as the card 72 which has had its feed hole perforations in engagement with the sprocket wheel 115 passes beyond the upwardly projecting portion the card detecting lever 287, this lever 287 will be permitted to rock back to its normal position as shown in the drawings thereby to move the swinger of switch 290 to the position shown in FIG. 10. As soon as the switch 290 returns to the position shown in FIG. 10 it will complete a circuit from source 297 through the windings of a control relay 326 to ground at 298 to energize the relay 326 which will thereupon close its normally open contact 326-A. Closure of the normally open contact 326-A will complete a circuit from source 297 through the windings of solenoid 136 to ground at 293 to hold The energization of the electromagnet 58 the solenoid 136 energized until the switch 290 is again operated, thus to insure that the card that had been in the reader portion of the machine is completely removed from it.

The return of switch 290 to the position shown in FIG. 10 will trip electromagnet 172 before contacts 326-B of relay 326 open, to initiate a succeeding cycle of operation of cam sleeve 166. When a cycle of rotation of cam sleeve 166 is initiated it will drive its cams through one complete cycle to advance a succeeding card 72 to position where its left edge will rest on lip 202 and will through the operation of pitman bar 245, move the lifting plates 276 upwardly to lift a card 72 past the card supporting members 283. Thus, the card 72 which has just been read will be stacked under the cards that preceded it.

In the event that the card pusher member 250 fails to deliver a card 72 to the card sensing area, the switch 290 will not be operated since no card will be fed to position over the card detecting lever 287. Therefore, relay 326 will not be released and will hold its contacts 326-C closed to shunt contacts 296-A and 295-A and thereby hold solenoid 292 energized to prevent the feeding of a card 72 to the deck plate 73.

Although only one embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and described in the foregoing specification it will be understood that invention is not limited to the specific embodiment described but is capable of modification and rearrangement and substitution of parts and elements without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A printing telegraph transmitter for reading per mutation code combination perforations from a succession of cards and having a card feeding section, a card reading section and a card stacking section comprising (a) means in the feeding section for feeding cards transversely of their length to the reading section,

(b) a card supporting deck plate in the card reading section for supporting cards fed from the feeding section,

(c) a card supporting lever in the reading section for holding one end of a card in an elevated position with respect to said deck plate,

(d) a hinged guide assembly for directing a card to a predetermined position in the card reading section,

(0) card reading means in the card reading section,

(1) a card feed wheel beneath the guiding assembly for feeding a card which has been engaged with it by the guide assembly step-by-step during the reading thereof by the reading means, said supporting lever supporting one end of a card above a card being fed by the feed wheel in position to be entered into said guide assembly,

(g) means for disabling said card feed wheel and rapidly feeding a card, the perforations of which have been read, out of the reading section into the stacking section, and

(It) means in the stacking section for stacking the cards in the same order in which they were read.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein control means is provided for sequentially operating the card feeding, card reading, and card stacking means of the apparatus to feed a card onto the card supporting lever while the card feeding wheel feeds the card beneath it through the reader portion of the apparatus whereby a card is positioned to be fed to the reader during the reading of a preceding card.

3. A printing telegraph transmitter having sensing fingers for reading permutation code combination perforations from a succession of cards comprising (a) a first means for feeding cards transversely of their length to one predetermined position,

([1) second means for feeding said cards past the sensing fingers to be read by them,

(c) third means for pushing cards lengthwise from said one position to a second position in alignment with the second means,

(d) means for engaging a card so aligned and moving it to operative engagement with said second means, and

(e) means actuated by a card in its movement to engagement with said second means for initiating operation of the sensing fingers and said second means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein there are provided card controlled means for disabling the means for feeding a card past the sensing fingers.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein code reading contacts are provided which are operated by the sensing fingers and wherein the code reading contacts in reading a predetermined code combination from a card disable the means for feeding the card past the sensing finger and initiate a rapid feeding of the card out of association with the sensing fingers.

6. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the means for feeding cards past the sensing fingers operates stepby-step to present successive code combinations of per forations to the sensing fingers,

code reading contacts are provided for actuation by the sensing fingers,

circuit controlled means are provided for operation by said contacts in reading a predetermined code combination to;

(1) disable the means for feeding the cards stepby-step past the sensing fingers,

(2) rapidly feed the card out of association with the sensing fingers.

7. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein there is provided means controlled by the card actuated means upon its release by a card for rapidly feeding the card out of association with the sensing fingers.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the means for feeding the cards past the sensing fingers to be read by them is operated step-by-step and the means controlled by the card upon its release feeds the card in one continuous uninterrupted movement out of association with the sensing fingers.

9. A printing telegraph transmitter having sensing fingers for reading permutation code combination perforations from a succession of record cards comprising (a) a sprocket feed wheel for engaging feed perforations in said cards to feed them past the sensing fingers,

(b) pawl and ratchet means for actuating said sprocket wheel,

(c) circuit means actuated by the sensing fingers for detecting the presence of a predetermined code combination perforated in a card,

(d) means activated by said circuit means for disabling the pawl and ratchet means,

(e) friction feeding means for feeding a card from operative association with the sprocket feed wheel, and

(1) means operated by said circuit means upon the detection of said predetermined code combinations for engaging said friction feeding means with the card to rapidly move the card from association with the sensing fingers after a message on the card has been read.

10. A printing telegraph transmitter having sensing fingers for reading permutation code combination perforations from a succession of record cards comprising (a) a sprocket feed wheel for engaging feed perforations in said cards to feed them past the sensing fingers,

(b) pawl and ratchet means for actuating said sprocket wheel step-by-step,

(c) circuit means actuated by the sensing fingers for detecting the presence of a predetermined code combination perforated in a card,

(d) means activated by said circuit means for disabling the pawl and ratchet means,

(0) friction feeding means for feeding a card in one continuous movement from operative association with the sprocket feed wheel, and

(f) means actuated by said circuit means for causing said friction feeding means to engage and feed a card.

11. A printing telegraph transmitter for reading permutation code combination perforations from a succession of cards comprising (a) means for directing a first card of a succession of cards to a predetermined position,

(b) a card supporting lever in said position for holding one end of a card elevated with respect to the main body of the card,

(0) means for actuating said lever to drop the elevated end of said card,

(d) a hinged guide assemblage positioned to receive said card after it has been released by said lever,

(e) means for feeding a card which has been released by said lever into the hinged guide assemblage,

(f) a card stop associated with said hinged guide assemblage,

(g) means for rocking said hinged guide assemblage to one of two positions where a card guided by it will abut the card stop,

(71) transmission controlling sensing means for reading said perforations in a card,

(i) a card feeding sprocket wheel for feeding a card past said sensing means, and

(j) means for rocking said hinged guide assemblage to its second position to engage a card in it with said card feeding sprocket wheel and disengage the card from said stop.

No references cited. 

3. A PRINTING TELEGRAPH TRANSMITTER HAVING SENSING FINGERS FOR READING PERMUTATION CODE COMBINATION PERFORATIONS FROM A SUCCESSION OF CARDS COMPRISING (A) A FIRST MEANS FOR FEEDING CARDS TRANSVERSELY OF THEIR LENGTH TO ONE PREDETERMINED POSITION, (B) SECOND MEANS FOR FEEDING SAID CARDS PAST THE SENSING FINGERS TO BE READ BY THEM, (C) THIRD MEANS FOR PUSHING CARDS LENGTHWISE FROM SAID ONE POSITION TO A SECOND POSITION IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE SECOND MEANS, 